Okay, maybe it's not extremely high paying, but my fiance is making about 60 a year, and I'm making about 52. I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should go to law school this fall (Stetson, no $) or just retake the LSAT and go next year. If I go to Stetson, both my fiance and I will lose our income and will have to borrow $ until we do find a job. It's a hard decision because we would be going from 100 + a year to a fraction of that- assuming we could find work.

Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to go to law school ever since I graduated in 2009, but I don't know if it would be the best financial decision (even in the long run) for me or my fiance. I feel like no matter what decision I make, I'll be disappointing either my fiance (loss of income, quality of life) or myself (putting off law school yet again). Anyways, if you could please tell me what you would do and why, I would greatly appreciate it.

rose711 wrote:What are you stats? Based on what you posted, it makes no sense for you to go to Stetson. It won't hurt you to wait for another year if you can improve you application with a higher score.

swellsrise wrote:Okay, maybe it's not extremely high paying, but my fiance is making about 60 a year, and I'm making about 52. I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should go to law school this fall (Stetson, no $) or just retake the LSAT and go next year. If I go to Stetson, both my fiance and I will lose our income and will have to borrow $ until we do find a job. It's a hard decision because we would be going from 100 + a year to a fraction of that- assuming we could find work.

Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to go to law school ever since I graduated in 2009, but I don't know if it would be the best financial decision (even in the long run) for me or my fiance. I feel like no matter what decision I make, I'll be disappointing either my fiance (loss of income, quality of life) or myself (putting off law school yet again). Anyways, if you could please tell me what you would do and why, I would greatly appreciate it.

from a financial standpoint, you only have 2 options.

1) score considerably better on the LSAT

2) do not go to law school and keep the high paying job <refer to doom/gloom articles about non-T1 law schools [and even some T1 law schools] in this economy>

personally, id stick with option 2 unless you REALLY want to do law and love it -- not just because you liked the idea of practicing law

swellsrise wrote:Okay, maybe it's not extremely high paying, but my fiance is making about 60 a year, and I'm making about 52. I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should go to law school this fall (Stetson, no $) or just retake the LSAT and go next year. If I go to Stetson, both my fiance and I will lose our income and will have to borrow $ until we do find a job. It's a hard decision because we would be going from 100 + a year to a fraction of that- assuming we could find work.

Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to go to law school ever since I graduated in 2009, but I don't know if it would be the best financial decision (even in the long run) for me or my fiance. I feel like no matter what decision I make, I'll be disappointing either my fiance (loss of income, quality of life) or myself (putting off law school yet again). Anyways, if you could please tell me what you would do and why, I would greatly appreciate it.

from a financial standpoint, you only have 2 options.

1) score considerably better on the LSAT

2) do not go to law school and keep the high paying job <refer to doom/gloom articles about non-T1 law schools [and even some T1 law schools] in this economy>

personally, id stick with option 2 unless you REALLY want to do law and love it -- not just because you liked the idea of practicing law

If income is a driving factor, work some more and get into a Top 10 MBA instead. You go to law school to practice law, you go to med school to practice medicine. You go to business school to make money.

swellsrise wrote:Okay, maybe it's not extremely high paying, but my fiance is making about 60 a year, and I'm making about 52. I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should go to law school this fall (Stetson, no $) or just retake the LSAT and go next year. If I go to Stetson, both my fiance and I will lose our income and will have to borrow $ until we do find a job. It's a hard decision because we would be going from 100 + a year to a fraction of that- assuming we could find work.

Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to go to law school ever since I graduated in 2009, but I don't know if it would be the best financial decision (even in the long run) for me or my fiance. I feel like no matter what decision I make, I'll be disappointing either my fiance (loss of income, quality of life) or myself (putting off law school yet again). Anyways, if you could please tell me what you would do and why, I would greatly appreciate it.

from a financial standpoint, you only have 2 options.

1) score considerably better on the LSAT

2) do not go to law school and keep the high paying job <refer to doom/gloom articles about non-T1 law schools [and even some T1 law schools] in this economy>

personally, id stick with option 2 unless you REALLY want to do law and love it -- not just because you liked the idea of practicing law

If income is a driving factor, work some more and get into a Top 10 MBA instead. You go to law school to practice law, you go to med school to practice medicine. You go to business school to make money.

swellsrise wrote:Okay, maybe it's not extremely high paying, but my fiance is making about 60 a year, and I'm making about 52. I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should go to law school this fall (Stetson, no $) or just retake the LSAT and go next year. If I go to Stetson, both my fiance and I will lose our income and will have to borrow $ until we do find a job. It's a hard decision because we would be going from 100 + a year to a fraction of that- assuming we could find work.

Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to go to law school ever since I graduated in 2009, but I don't know if it would be the best financial decision (even in the long run) for me or my fiance. I feel like no matter what decision I make, I'll be disappointing either my fiance (loss of income, quality of life) or myself (putting off law school yet again). Anyways, if you could please tell me what you would do and why, I would greatly appreciate it.

from a financial standpoint, you only have 2 options.

1) score considerably better on the LSAT

2) do not go to law school and keep the high paying job <refer to doom/gloom articles about non-T1 law schools [and even some T1 law schools] in this economy>

personally, id stick with option 2 unless you REALLY want to do law and love it -- not just because you liked the idea of practicing law

If income is a driving factor, work some more and get into a Top 10 MBA instead. You go to law school to practice law, you go to med school to practice medicine. You go to business school to make money.

Spend some time on these boards and on above the law, and I think you'll see that ditching the jobs and going to stetson would end up being the worst decision of your life.

The best case opportunity cost for this situation (assuming your fiance gets a comparable job immediately) would be approximately $300,000+, and could be as high as $480,000. Coming out of stetson the chances of recouping that cost are quite bleak.

Keep the Job- take the test again, and see what your options are after that. Making $52,000 2 years after graduation is a good start ( assuming of course this number isnt adjusted too much for cost of living). Since you are engaged to be married, you need to consider your fiances position, and how likely the SO can find a job where you go to school, and be able to pay off those exisiting loans. You need to find a balance between the needs and wants in your life, and determine if its worthwhile to you and your SO for you to pursue your dream or to wait to make sure the SO will be able to find something that they like, and pays decently. This is a major life decision and rushing into it is not a good idea, taking an extra 6 months to a year to evaluate and assess your priorities, and then finding and applying to schools that best fit for the both of you is something that I would advise you to strongly consider.

a lot of people dont like what they do, or know what they want to do or want from life. Take some time to figure it out- and gameplan for it, then go get it. You may change your mind a few times ( its fine!) or you may realize that this trully is it. If you still dont know- then try to find something that you do like ( if you really hate your current job)- and see how it goes. With your experience, maybe you can find a similar position in a similar field that has totally different responsibilities and duties from your current position?

TL:DR, Best of luck, re evaluate your options, wants, desires and needs, re take the test, and game plan for a bit longer.

keep the job. can you possibly attend part-time? If getting the JD is something you have dreamed of (more like nightmare) then you could keep your job and chip away at your degree, avoiding taking out loans for COL (about 75k over 3 years).

I also would re-take LSAT. If you can get north of 160 Stetson will prob throw some dollaz at you. Other things to consider: do you like your job enough to make it a career? (if "no" then retake and attempt law school if that is what you want, but get $$$).

Is it in a field where a JD would allow you to move w/in the company? (if this answer is "no" then the JD will likely not be worth it at all if you also said "yes" above)